


no, not that word (I love you)

by idontreallylikebutterflies (Laulerelelere)



Category: You Could Make a Life Series - Taylor Fitzpatrick
Genre: (kinda), 3+1 Things, Coming Out, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-03 21:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10258238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laulerelelere/pseuds/idontreallylikebutterflies
Summary: ''‘’Be nicer to your boyfriend, Anton,’’ Tonya says.Anton accidentally throws his knife to the floor. Vladimir looks like he’s trying to keep a straight face. Thomas is just hoping that Anton isn’t going to get up and leave.''Three times that Anton gets really embarrassed when people say that Thomas is his boyfriend, and one time that Anton himself says the word (and is still really embarrassed).





	

(1)  
Anton always looks uncomfortable when someone calls him Thomas’ boyfriend, so Megan has been trying to get a kick out of him by only saying stuff like ‘’your dearest boyfriend’’ when talking about Thomas.

She’s visiting, and she said that she wanted Anton to ‘’stop being a coward and actually recognize that you are dating’’ which is not what is happening, because Anton has told Thomas that he loves him before, they have kissed. Anton just doesn’t want to use one specific word, and Thomas finds it endearing, but Megan’s always going to stick up for Thomas, even when he doesn't need it.

Thomas thinks that it’s funny, mostly because she doesn’t want to repeat herself and has now decided that ‘’sweet and lovely boyfriend’’ are words that she can and should actually say with her mouth. He also feels it for Anton, because he gets that he’s uncomfortable and that he needs time to get used to it, but. It’s Megan. He couldn’t win Megan at a battle for his favourite side of the bed, and he isn’t going to win this one.

‘’I think that I’m going to—go home,’’ Anton says when Megan has paused the movie to go to the bathroom.

Thomas thought that he was going to be staying over, but he gets why he would want to leave, honestly. He’s kind of surprised that he hasn’t stormed off angrily.

‘’Okay,’’ Thomas says, and then, ‘’Just so you know, Megan and I will probably share a bed,’’ because that seems like something that could make Anton feel grumpy if he finds out about it in the morning.

But he smiles, even though it looks kind of tense. ‘’Don’t let her kick you out of the bed,’’ he warns.

‘’She will,’’ Thomas says, because it will probably happen. ‘’You are better at sharing a bed than her.’’

That has the desired effect, and Anton smiles. An actual smile, the sappy one. ‘’I love you.’’

He's blushing. He always blushes when he says it, actually, which-- it’s endearing, too. A lot of things that Anton do are endearing these days.

‘’Come over for breakfast,’’ Thomas says.

‘’I will,’’ Anton says, and then pokes him in the side until he says that he loves him back.

They hear the door of the bathroom open, and Anton gets up, practically runs to the door.

Megan gets to the living room seconds after and she actually cackles when she sees that Anton isn’t there anymore.

‘’I scared your boy off?’’ Megan asks.

‘’He could be in the kitchen,’’ Thomas points out, even though they both know that it’s a lie.

‘’Well, is he?’’

‘’No, you totally scared him off and he went home. You are too mean to him.’’

‘’Oh, Tommy, no. You are just too nice to him.’’

 

(2)

‘’We’re not going to have dinner at my parents’ home, Vinny,’’ Anton says in a final tone. Like he’s saying ‘’it’s not going to happen, don’t try to change it’’.

‘’They invited us,’’ Thomas says, because it’s true. Thomas doesn’t know how Tonya got his number, because he doubts that Anton would give it to her, but she called him and told him that she was telling him because the invitation was for the both of them, and Anton wouldn’t tell him. Which is true.

‘’It’s going to be weird,’’ Anton says. ‘’You know I haven’t told them.’’

Thomas knows. Thomas is also not an idiot, thank you, so he knows that Tonya at least suspects about them, has for a long time, and that if she isn’t convinced yet it’s probably only because Anton probably went out to hook up when he was staying at their home this summer.

‘’I haven’t told my parents either,’’ Thomas says.

‘’Your mother told me to call her mom last time we visited,’’ Anton says, or, well, whispers, because they are still on a plane, surrounded by their teammates.

She also told Megan to call her that, but Thomas isn’t going to tell Anton that.

‘’And your mother must know, too,’’ Thomas says, and that makes Anton even more uncomfortable, so Thomas adds, ‘’Look, if you really don’t want them to know for sure—‘’

‘’It’s okay,’’ Anton cuts him up ‘’It’s okay, they—we’re just having dinner. It’s nothing. We’ll go.’’

He spends the rest of the time on the plane fidgeting, and doesn’t stop until Thomas dozes off on his shoulder.

***

‘’Anton!’’ Tonya says when she opens the front door. She hugs Anton, and then she hugs Thomas, too, which is great, because her hugs are wonderful.

They hug Vladimir, too, and then Anton says that they want to leave their stuff in his room while Tonya and Vladimir finish preparing dinner. It’s an excuse, because the only stuff they have is either in their pockets or in their hotel room, but no one is going to call Anton out on it.

‘’Are you okay?’’ Thomas asks when they’ve been sitting in silence for a while, because Anton looks freaked out.

‘’Yes.’’

Thomas sits next to him, and pokes him in the side with the finger. ‘’They are really not going to know just because we had dinner together. I don’t know why your parents freak you out so much.’’

‘’This doesn’t freak you out at all. Why doesn’t this freak you out at all?’’ Anton asks, which isn’t an answer to what Thomas was saying, but.

Thomas doesn’t answer, either, because it’s partly because he isn’t as tense around parents as Anton is and partly because he had years to get used to the idea of being in love with a guy, whereas Anton’s only had a few months. He doesn’t think that anything that he says will actually help Anton, so he just holds his hand.

Anton relaxes, and when Thomas is about to get up to see if they can help, he grabs him by the chin and gives him a peck on the lips.

Thomas is going to call him a sap, but he hears knocking on the door. The open door.

Whoops.

‘’Guys, dinner is ready,’’ Tonya says, before walking away.

‘’Do you think she saw?’’ Anton asks. He looks like he’s starting to panic a little.

She totally saw. Thomas can hear her snicker from here. ‘’I don’t know.’’

***

Anton spends the whole dinner looking alert, so Thomas spends it making small talk with Tonya and Vladimir.

He talks to Vladimir about the girl goalies, because they are really cute and really talented and Thomas likes to gush.

‘’They also make him fall onto his ass all the time,’’ Anton adds. Which is kind, of true, but—

‘’Hey!’’ Thomas complains.

‘’Be nicer to your boyfriend, Anton,’’ Tonya says.

Anton accidentally throws his knife to the floor. Vladimir looks like he’s trying to keep a straight face. Thomas is just hoping that Anton isn’t going to get up and leave.

He doesn’t, but he doesn’t stay put for long once they’ve finished dinner, either.

 

(3)

They have to grab another plane the next day after the game, a win, which would be okay, if they didn’t have Sandro sitting right behind them, all on his own, because apparently they are punishing him for doing… something?

Anton is still freaked out, even if nothing at all happened last night. Thomas gets it, though, and he also gets that Sandro sitting so close to him isn’t going to end up well.

‘’What’s going on with Petrov?’’ Sandro asks after, like, ten minutes.

‘’We went to his parents’ house yesterday,’’ Thomas says, low, because that usually remembers Sandro that he shouldn’t talk loudly about his relationship with Anton.

‘’Uuuh! They were meeting the boyfriend, Petrov?’’ Sandro says.

‘’Will you just shut up?’’ Anton snaps, which was predictable.

‘’Look—‘’ Sandro starts.

‘’Guys,’’ Thomas says, because he doesn’t want them to start arguing right now, and they both shut up.

 

(+1)

Thomas and Anton go to Thomas’ house together, and Anton kind of throws himself on the couch and looks like he doesn’t want to move. Like, ever.

‘’Are you okay?’’ Thomas asks.

‘’I’m going to punch Carmen someday,’’ Anton says, his voice muffled by his arm.

Thomas really hopes that he won’t, because then Sandro would have an excuse to punch him back, and that would be bad for Anton’s face.

‘’Please, don’t,’’ he says.

Anton puts his arm away, and he—okay, he makes grabby hands at Thomas.

So adorable.

Thomas throws himself on top of Anton, and Anton kisses his temple.

‘’We didn’t really get to talk yesterday. Are you okay?’’ Thomas asks, because communication is important, and Anton likes to avoid talking about things until they are forgotten.

‘’Yes,’’ Anton says, and when Thomas doesn’t say anything, ‘’I really am. Are you?’’

Thomas is confused. Why wouldn’t he be? ‘’Of course.’’

‘’I just— I don’t want you to feel like I don’t think of you as my boyfriend,’’ he says, fast, getting red.

‘’What do you mean?’’ Thomas says.

‘’I—know that I don’t react well when people call you that, but—we are dating, you are clearly my boyfriend I just—‘’ He stops, and this time he doesn’t go on, so Thomas kisses his cheek.

‘’I know,’’ he says. ‘’You’ve told me that you love me, I’m not going to be sad if you don’t like to call me by a specific word.’’

‘’Oh,’’ Anton says, sounding relieved.

‘’Were you actually worried about this?’’ Thomas asks, and by how Anton avoids looking at him, that’s a yes. ‘’You should have told me before.’’

‘’I know,’’ Anton says, but he clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. ‘’Do you want to go to bed?’’

Thomas kisses his nose. ‘’Of course.’’

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! As always, thanks for reading. Tell me if I murdered the English language and then burried it in my backyard.  
> Feel free to comment! It's always appreciated. You can also find me on Tumblr: idontreallylikebutterflies  
> And also, yes, Tonya totally asked Vladimir to pull out his phone and start asking around for Thomas' number because, yes, she asked Anton and he didn't give it to her.  
> And I think that's it. Again, thanks for reading!


End file.
